Gray
by Odat
Summary: I think I stood there for a while, tight lipped, gazing out onto a dim horizon, older. There were mountains in the haze ahead; they were as far as this ruin went. He died here. He died and our Innocence still works. Allen and Lenalee.


A ghost town with ash up to each buildings roof. When I walked through here the first time as a girl of no more than seventeen years, I sank almost to my hips each time in the ash. It was barren and desolate; it had been for years now. Time is frozen here, under all of this ash there are the frozen figures of people running, broken jars and pots, melted glass, shadows of life. But I walked on anyway, not bothering to cry, if I did it would waste the little amount of water I still had.

Walking on the ridges of the houses, the slate shingles scuffing under by boots, sometimes coming loose and sliding down to land in a small poof in the ashes I made my way across the gray.

I was looking for something. I did this every year on this day. Every one called me a fool for doing so, even though they were with me every day for the first year and then almost every for the second. The third I stopped coming here everyday, just once a week. Then the fourth, just once a month. It has been five years, I only come once now. Mostly to pay my respects.

Even though head quarters is stationed so far away, I still make the journey, it doesn't take too long with my boots. We were all surprised that the Innocence still worked even after everything was over. We're still wary that it isn't. My generation will be forever cautious, always sleeping with one eye open, always ready with our hand on the trigger. So to speak, to at least shout out for our Innocence to activate as we're spooked by a shadow moving or some one brushing our arm on the street.

The shingle under my foot came loose and I found myself sliding calmly down to the ash, a cloud blew up when I landed up to my knees in it. But the wind which had been whipping my hair around my face quickly carried it off.

I think I stood there for a while, tight lipped, gazing out onto a dim horizon, older. There were mountains in the haze ahead; they were as far as this ruin went.

He died here. He died and our Innocence still works. We're all afraid that he didn't win. None of us actually know. We fled, as we assumed he would, when everything erupted and the fire began. But he didn't, he stayed to fight. And he died.

I began to walk again, dragging through the ashes forgoing the easier route that the roofs offered. I walked for I'm not sure how long, being drawn in by something, or repelled by something else. I continued to walk, but when my foot hit something metal I was forced to stop, the metal was still sharp as I found when I went to move my leg around it and I felt the sting of it cutting my skin.

It was the sting and the small trickle of blood running down to my ankle that woke me from my daze. My leg had a cut, but my leg was encased in my boots. My boots made of Innocence, the only thing that can break through Innocence is another Innocence or Akuma matter. My head spun as it made hundreds of connections in just second before I started to dig.

The ash was light, but there was a lot, and every time I had scooped some out, more fell into its place. It took a while but when I cleared the top part off there was no mistaking it, the black rim to the white middle. I stepped back and swung my leg with all my might.

The gust of wind I made cleared more of the ash away than I had expected. I repeated the action, my Innocence humming in sync with something else. I prayed for the first time in many years.

I was now in the ash; the area almost cleared away, as a figure becoming present. A broad sword forever swung over one shoulder, legs poised to run, but the head wasn't clear. It was larger than it should have been. After another gust I saw why, the Crown Clown's mask, hood and cape, were shadowing his head. It only took two more gusts before he was free from the ash. Allen Walker was there standing before me, a frozen statue.

I still didn't cry, it only confirmed my nightmares which I had woke me every night with tears rolling down my face. I wouldn't cry here too. "You fool." I whispered as I touched his face. His expression wasn't clear; the stone had smoothed it out. Considering his positioning it must have been a war cry or a grimace. I sighed and moved to hug his broad shoulders, my boots coming toe to toe with him.

The moment my boots touched him though, the humming I hadn't been paying attention to came back with a vengeance. I was on guard for an attack, still half wrapped in Allen's arm. The cracking sound startled me further, and the light that flew from the cracks froze me in my place.

It was the largest activation of Innocence ever recorded to this day. His entire body had become his Innocence to keep him alive; my Innocence reacted with his to bring it from its dormant state. At the same time, all around the world, all the other Innocences activated in response to his.

The cracks grew and spread, the stone falling away, and the light glowing merrily in the gloom of the ashes. As it fell to the ground as dust, the boy himself was revealed. But he was no longer the boy he had been frozen as, now the young man just a year younger than me. The Crown Clown's cape began to whip around us in a gale, the light shining brighter than ever as the last of the stone fell off of Allen's face. His scar was still there along with his white hair, he took one deep breath and opened his eyes.

To look straight into mine. He blinked, repeatedly, as his arm registered the weight of his sword, my face so close to his, the ash swirling in the cyclone that we were standing in. He let his hand drop to the ground, his grand sword hitting with a dry bang, and continued to try and figure out what was going on. He looked at me, confused, asking questions that he didn't know how to word. I didn't answer him.

I kissed him. All it took was standing on my tip toes and moving my face just a little closer to his. I closed my eyes and pressed my lips to his. It was the one thing that I had regretted more than anything in the world, more than running away from him in that battle, more than my shame of not being able to help and to save every one. It was soft and short, but it was enough. I pulled away and when he smiled I knew that there would be many more. They would wait until we were done talking, until everything had been resolved, until we knew what had happened, but just the promise of more were enough for the both of us.

He deactivated his Innocence, his left arm returning to him and he wrapped them both around me. The windstorm quieted, the ashes settled, and he whispered to me, "I dreamed of you." His voice was harsh and dry from years of being unused, but it was deeper and had a feeling of rough velvet on my ear.

"You've been dreaming for a very long time." I whispered back, my ears were still ringing even though the hum had gone. I rested my head in the crook of his neck as he pulled me just a little closer. "We thought you died five years ago."

I felt him tense up, his hands gripping my waist almost painfully. He tried to say something but no words came to him, just puffs of air playing with my already tousled hair. "I'm not sure whether to call you sleeping beauty or a phoenix." I grinned, he sighed and smiled.

We went home together that night, the stars shining over our heads and the moon just a crescent of light. We flew in that sky with my boots heading truly home for the first time in five years. All of the questions could wait until tomorrow. We both had our most important answers, he wasn't dead, and I wasn't a dream. And as long as we each knew that, we would be forever contented.


End file.
